Broken Promises
by UnofficiallyClove
Summary: When Glimmer gets reaped for the Hunger Games, she has a flashback of when she first met Marvel. One-shot, birthday present for Allison. :D Sorry for the cheesy title, i'm not too great with the romance stuff!


**This is dedicated to my friend Allison, who loves Glimmer…and especially Marvel. ;) It's her birthday today, so, HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALLISON! :D**

"Glimmer Darlington!"

Oh no. No, not me. Not Glimmer. They must've made a mistake, read the paper wrong. I can't be reaped. Not now, not when everything is so perfect. I take a deep breath and try to wipe my face clean of emotion, then I force my legs to move up to the stage. I know everyone is watching me, so I must look good. That's something I'm good at: performing. Looking good for the crowd.

I can handle this. I've been trained for the Hunger Games ever since I was little. All I need to do is go in, kill twenty-three other kids, and get out. It's that simple. It'll be a piece of cake. But if this is true, why does it seem like I'm trying to convince myself?

Its okay, I can do this. I walk up the wooden steps to the fancy, over-decorated stage and stand next to the overly peppy escort. He gives me a smile and I notice that his teeth are not actually teeth, but have been replaced with diamonds. I shiver with disgust. Not that I don't love diamonds, but that's just disgusting.

I scan the boy's section, sizing up what could be my competition. I'll be the first to admit that I'm not exactly the strongest nor most skilled person out there, but I'm fast and I know how to make quick kills, and that's all I need.

My emerald green eyes finally rest on my boyfriend. His blond hair hangs a little over his deep blue eyes, which are filled with concern. But when he sees me looking, he gives a half-hearted, encouraging smile. I know I'll see him when our family members come to say goodbye. Most likely the last time I'll ever see my boyfriend—

"Marvel Montgomery!" the escort announces.

I feel my jaw drop, embarrassingly. But I can't help it. Why is this happening to me? Why, _why_ did I have to get sent to the Games, let alone with my boyfriend!

Marvel stands up from his spot in the stands and confidently walks forward, not looking the least bit nervous or concerned. He's always been good at keeping his composure, where as I'm sure I look like a wreck right now. I see a lot of people whispering; Marvel and I are both very popular in school and are a well-known couple.

The escort holds my arm up in the air, along with Marvel's, like we've just won a wrestling match, and announces us as the tributes of District One. But I barely hear what he's saying. Then some peacekeepers come to escort us to the room where we'll say our goodbyes. I feel numb, the only feeling coming from the horrible pain in my stomach.

My mom wishes me luck, tells me she's proud of me. My best friends apologize at my bad luck. But I don't want to hear it. They don't know what I'm going through. If it was just me, going into the Games alone, I would be fine with it. Well, as fine as I could possibly be. My sister, Jewel, says goodbye after my friends leave, and she's the only one I really pay attention to. She wishes me luck, like the rest, tells me she's sorry. But I pay more attention to her because she was a victor three years ago. She tells me a few things I'll need to survive, but mostly one sticks out in my mind.

"Don't trust anyone, especially not the tributes from Two, not even Marvel."

I shake my head. "Marvel would never hurt me." I answer automatically, but then the realization hits me like a ton of bricks. Either Marvel kills me or I kill him. My sister watches me come to this conclusion and then she wraps her arms around me.

"You'll do fine, Glimmer." She tells me. When she pulls away, she places something in my hand. A ring. "For your token." She explains. "Remember, we designed this one together?"

I nod as I look at the turquoise stone, wrapped in a stunning, elaborate gold band bordered with diamonds. Jewel owns her own jewelry shop already, one of the most successful in District One, and since I want to be a designer when I grow up instead of a gross jewl-miner, she's been letting me design some of her jewelry.

"I added something special to it, though." She says, talking a little quicker since we both know we're running out of time. She twists the stone three times and then it pops open to reveal a hollow space. Then, she reaches in a manicured finger and presses a miniscule button on the side of the little space, so small I barely saw it—it must be the size of a period. With the touch of her finger, a spike shoots out of the hollow space. I gape at it, amazed.

"It's poisonous." She explains. "I tried to hide it as well as I could, but those gamemakers are very thorough while checking the tokens. If it doesn't get passed, you can remove the spike pretty easily."

I throw my arms around her one more time. "Thanks, Jewel."

"Good luck."

And then the peacekeepers open the door and usher her out, and shortly after that they take me out a back door and lead me to a train station. The second the train starts moving and I'm out of the view of cameras, I'm wondering where Marvel is when I feel strong arms wrap around me from behind. I turn around, still wrapped in his embrace, and return the hug, burying my face into his shoulder.

I take a deep, shuddering breath and sigh into the soft fabric of his shirt.

"What's wrong with you?" Marvel asks, and I can practically hear the smirk in his voice. Those were the first words I ever heard him say to me, and I know he's repeating them to try and lighten the mood.

I first met Marvel eight years ago, when we were nine years old. Like all the cheesy romance stories say, it could've been yesterday for how well I remember it. That day was both very traumatic and amazing for me. Traumatic, because I accidentally blinded my father. Amazing, because I met Marvel.

I'm not crazy or anything, I don't maim for fun. It was all an accident. A big, horrible mess of an accident. Everyone was out, or so I thought. I went into my mother's lab—she cleans and shapes gems, makes and designs jewelry and other things. We're lucky to have our own lab, I come from a very wealthy family. I wasn't supposed to go in there, ever—there are dangerous tools used for molding and melting and sculpting, blah, blah, blah, but I wanted to try and make my own ring. I had been designing since I was eight; I wanted to try it out for real.

Apparently, my father had gotten something, and he came back in to get it, but I didn't know. I was taking the melted silver out of the oven, and let me tell you, it's _really _hot for the first few minutes it comes out. So, I accidentally spilled some of it down the vent. I didn't think it would do anything, but it started burning through the metal and making a really loud crackling sound. I got nervous so I went down to check downstairs in the living room, where the vent leads to, but my dad was already there. He opened the vent in the wall and peered in, and I got there just in time to see burning hot silver slide down and spill all over his face.

I was horrified. The feeling of grief that overwhelmed me at that moment, as my dad cried out, will be something I will never forget. And the worst part is, I never told anyone it was me. It looked like there was just a leak in the oven. I had snuck out the back door that afternoon and ran. I ran and ran, and before I knew it I wound up in a garden. The sun was setting, creating a magical glow over the land, and for a moment I was mesmerized by the beauty. But then I saw a lawn behind me, followed by a large house, and I realized I was in someone's backyard. Here I thought I had found a secret garden, but it was just someone's house. So, I did what the logical person would do. I sat in the dirt and cried.

I don't know how long I was crying, but it was getting dark when I heard a door close. I looked behind me to see him standing there. I recognized him as a boy from my school, he was really good in training, which we had just started three years ago. His blond hair, which was shorter back then, was tousled in a childish way, and his deep blue eyes matched the shade of the darkening sky.

"What's wrong with you?" he asked me.

I sniffed and stood up, aggravated by his lack of compassion for me. I was about to tell him off, but then I decided against it. "Nothing." I said firmly, in my stubborn ten-year-old voice.

The boy frowned. "Why are you in my yard?"

"I didn't mean to come here." I spat at him.

He looked hurt. "Okay…what's your name?"

"Glimmer." I said, suddenly feeling self-conscious about my tears. I wiped the remaining ones that lingered on my cheeks away.

"Oh. I'm Marvel. You're dad owns the silversmith shop, right?"

At the mention of my father, I had teared up again, and I was actually really embarrassed about it that time.

Marvel frowned again, creating an adorable little crease between his eyebrows. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you cry. Why are you crying?" He walked to where I was and sat on the dirt, right where I was sitting before. I sat down again next to him and told him what just happened.

"Wow." Was all he had said, looking at a flower.

I looked at the dirt. "You must think I'm a bad, bad person."

"No, it was an accident. Don't feel bad."

I looked up at him. "Really? You don't think what I did was bad?"

"It _was_ bad, but I don't want you to feel bad. He'll get better, I promise." He then leaned forward and plucked the purple flower he had been looking at off of it's bush and placed it in my tiny hands. "Look." He said, pointing out a drop of dew on the flower stem. It was sparkling in the setting sunlight. "It glimmers, just like your name. Glimmer." He then grinned at me, revealing two missing teeth.

I smiled back at him. And that's the moment we became best friends, turning into a couple when we turned fourteen. Unfortunately, that promise he made me was broken. My father stayed blind up until four years ago, when he died in a car accident.

And now, back in the present, I hugged him tighter. "What are we going to do?"

Marvel sighs and kisses the top of my head. "I don't know, but we'll work this out. I promise."

I feel sadness wash over me as I remember that promise he made to me eight years ago, the one that never came true. I can only hope that this one won't be broken.


End file.
